The stained glass windows at Christ Church, Eaton, are put back after their restoration. Tyrone Towers fixes the windows in place. Picture: Denise Bradley

copyright: Archant 2014

A beautiful century-old stained glass window has been restored to its former glory and is once again adorning Christ Church in Eaton.

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About the west window

Christ Church Eaton’s nave west window was inserted in 1918 and was designed by Arthur A. Orr of Harrow.

It celebrated the golden wedding of the Norwich industrialist, John Joseph Dawson Paul of Boulton and Paul, and his wife Elizabeth.

The theme of the window is the Te Deum, an early Christian hymm.

Underneath the window is a memorial tablet to J.J.D.Paul and his wife.

Work to reinstall the west window in the nave of the church is taking place this week, and it is one of the final parts of the church’s Be A Pane campaign which saw £65,000 raised to fund repair work on the 19th century building’s windows.

The clear glass south aisle west window is also being put back in place this week as part of the project.

John Brydon, who has been leading the campaign, said it was lovely to see the restored windows returned to the church for future generations to enjoy.

He said: “The windows are part of the heritage of the church left by previous generations. The restoration work means the building is going to be watertight and that the windows will be there for future people to come and contemplate and admire.”

The stained glass windows at Christ Church, Eaton, are put back after their restoration. Tyrone Towers, left, and William Adcock fix the windows in place. Picture: Denise Bradley

Mr Brydon paid tribute to everyone who had made the project possible.

“The fact that this has happened is due to the incredible generosity of lots of people - money has come in from all sorts of sources and lots of people have given up their time and energy for the fundraising,” he said.

Both the stained glass and the clear glass windows were carefully removed from the church in February by Great Moulton-based specialists Devlin Plummer Stained Glass.

It was the first time the nave west window had been taken out since the window was put in place in 1918 to celebrate the golden wedding anniversary of John Joseph Dawson Paul, of city-based manufacturer Boulton and Paul, and his wife Elizabeth.

One of the stained glass windows at Christ Church, Eaton, back in place after their restoration. Picture: Denise Bradley

Tom Beacom, from Devlin Plummer Stained Glass, explained: “We took the windows apart and gave the glass a really good clean and made any repairs that were needed.”

The old lead in the windows was replaced as well as the stainless steel horizontal bars that help to keep the glass in place.

Mr Beacom said the work to reinstall both windows should be finished by the end of the week, and that the restoration work should hopefully last another 100 years.

Mr Brydon said the next project the church was hoping to undertake was to restore the church organ, put in new kitchen facilities and disabled toilets, and make improvements to the social space area, and that combined this work was expected to cost about £200,000.

• A special service to celebrate the windows being restored is taking place at Christ Church, in Church Avenue, Eaton, at 10am on Sunday, June 8.

• For more about Christ Church visit www.eatonparish.com

• Are you involved in a heritage arts project in Norwich? Email arts correspondent Emma Knights at emma.knights@archant.co.uk